Catkins.
Fremont’s cottonwood (Populus fremontii), Sweetwater Wetlands Park, Tucson, Arizona.
Tag: Tucson
Going to seed. Fluff to follow.
Developing seed pods on Fremont’s cottonwood (Populus fremontii), at the Sweetwater Wetlands Park, Tucson, Arizona.
Going to seed. Fluff to follow.
Developing seed pods on Fremont’s cottonwood (Populus fremontii), at the Sweetwater Wetlands Park, Tucson, Arizona.
Mata muchaco (Sapindus saponaria), at the Arizona Sonora Desert Museum, Tucson, Arizona.
Mata muchaco (Sapindus saponaria), at the Arizona Sonora Desert Museum, Tucson, Arizona.
Katydid, perched on a totem pole cactus, at the Arizona Sonora Desert Museum in Tuscon, Arizona.
Based on location and population distributions alone I think this is a Mexican bush katydid (Scudderia mexicana). I did not collect it, and could not examine its nether regions, so I can’t exclude the fork-tailed bush katydid, S. furcata. Why are the Orthoptera so complicated?
Katydid, perched on a totem pole cactus, at the Arizona Sonora Desert Museum in Tuscon, Arizona.
Based on location and population distributions alone I think this is a Mexican bush katydid (Scudderia mexicana). I did not collect it, and could not examine its nether regions, so I can’t exclude the fork-tailed bush katydid, S. furcata. Why are the Orthoptera so complicated?
Quince.
Quince.
Zebra-tailed lizard (Callisaurus draconoides), at the Arizona Sonora Desert Museum in Tucson, Arizona.
This lizard was a wild inhabitant of the outdoor exhibits at the museum. Obviously a baby, he was only about 3 cm long from snout to vent. And the whole time I watched him he kept sinuously waving his tail. The tail-wagging behavior might be a way of signaling to predators, “I see you. I’m prepared to run. Don’t waste your efforts on me.” Zebra-tails can sacrifice their tails and regenerate new ones through a process called caudal autotomy, so the curled tail displays may be a way of suggesting to predators, “Go for the wriggling bit, and leave my innards alone.”
Dithyramb 